don't buy into it. we've lost momentum now, confidence knocked too. should have gone all out and won it, told belgium to calm their ambitions, and sent a scare through the likes of brazil. now we're seen as a bit of a laughing stock, the first real test and we lose and all the talk about 'not wanting brazil' in the quarters or whatever was pretty cringeworthy if you ask me. we're here to compete, to try and win the cup and trying to 'avoid' teams is the stuff of sissies imo. you take it one match at a time, who's to say colombia won't go and thrash us now? or we lose to swiss or whatever? you wanna win this cup, you gotta beat the best so hiding from them just lost my vote for south gate.

Take one Match at a time? Bet you were as sick as a parrot at the end dicksy, just remember tho it's a game of 2 halves and we are still in it. Let's get realistic tho. Ok we done ok, but that's all! We played ok but won at the last minute2 goals from set pieces and beat a Vauxhall conference team. Not really THAT much to get carried away with. However there are signs of England doing well in the way Southgate is going about things. Things ARE still encouraging for me but style is good and we still have as much to prove as we did before we kicked a all in this tournament. If people get carried away with the Tunisia and Panama games then it's their fault not Gareth's.

My point dicksy is we didn't really have much momentum in the first place. The 2 teams we beat were nothing to get think we have a great chance of winning it. Even Harry Kane outside of scoring has contributed very little. IMO the World Cup doesn't require momentum till the knockout stage. Inshort if we win, the whole arguement on momentum is lost, if we lose let's face it it's exactly what we expected before everyone got carried away. 1 good 25 minutes in a game against Tunisia and a pub team doesn't constitute much momentum IMO. How would you have felt if we had lost some pivotal player in that game needlessly? As for laughing stock? We have been that for years so what's new? I tell you what's new the laughing stock is Germany not us. If Brazil look at us and are not frightened I'd say that was a good thing flying under the radar and teams being complacent. It's our biggest realistic chance of winning it. I'd say it's business as normal and rightly we are still on the same page as we were when the comp started. We all get carried away with things and fall into the same trap.

well, no don't agree. for me sport and football is about doing your best at all times. you can argue this 'what if he got injured' but thats nonsense, as we all know anyone can get injured in training anyway. the momentum of course is the team were playing well, Kane was scoring etc. now we've lost that momentum, so thats the point. no one was carried away, not me anyway, but my opinion is we should have made perhaps 2-3 changes and gone out to win the game or at least play it with some desire to win it.

Dicksy I have very much took a level stance from all the games. Improvement? Yes. Have I seen anything to make me think they will get into the semi? No. Unless of course I can include how so many big names haven't impressed me. So for me even before the Belgium game we have a whole lot more to do to be serious contenders. That said there have been some positive signs. I'm not hold much into the Belgium game neither team really gave a monkeys. The bit I hated was how mN City and spurs players from both nations were having a laugh and joke. Hope Southgate cracks the whip on that. Although I really cared nothing about that game i did however feel there were far too many changes. 3 or 4 would have been enough. For me it proved several players aren't good enough to rely on. The only players we are likely to have to contribute from the bench are ratchford vardy, dire, loft us cheek and maybe a keeper. The rest are just wasting a seat on the bench.

Victories over Tunisia and Panama are nothing special. At the same time, there have been recent cups in which England didn't even make it out of the group stages. And there were periods in both wins where England bossed the game (as well they should). So you could say SFSG. Columbia will be a test. They are unpredictable, will likely employ a fair bit of gamesmanship, may have the upper hand in crowd and official sentiment, and can be deadly if given the opportunity. But England can't be overly cautious. That would play into their hands in my opinion. Let them double team Kane; cut Lingard loose and pray that Sterling breaks his duck. Then you may see something special.

Did anyone see the Columbia, Poland game? Columbia absolutely ripped Poland apart! If James plays well they could tear us a new one! I'd say in that game only they looked the best team in the comp. since then they haven't be the same, but if we take this game lightly we WILL lose.

Good one Dicks. I have started to spell Colombia right due to Lucy Zelic's pronunciation on SBS enhancing the o. Thanks Lucy. But then places like Espania and Brasil with it's s not z that I find missing more disappointing.